One
of the Old World Lacertidae is the western green lizard that has been
seperated from the common green lizard Lacerta viridis. The western green
lizard is found from Northern Portugal and down in Italy. It lives all
the way around the Alpes. To the east it is replaced with Lacerta viridis.
The differences are not so easy seen but the western green
lizard has a more unicolored green back and the other has more dark spots
on the back. Both reaches about 35-40 cm in length and is as adults grassgreen
and males has a blue throat and chicks. The belly is yellowish or green.
In Europe the green lizard is protected bye the Bern Convention, but captive
bred animals are often for sale on shows. Green lizards prey on large
insects and small mammels. They are normally very shy and difficult to
tame. Indoor they have proven to be difficult to keep. After some time
they recieve skin problems that looks like black wounds and kills the
animals in the end. It can be prevented with the use of UV-light, but
outdoor keeping is far better. The are very agressive towards each other
and should be kept in pairs or many males together to remove the posibility
of making territorial areas.

Green
lizard male

We keep ours outdoors
in 4 square meter terraria from April to September together with our turtle
babies and hibernate them indoors. On 4 square meter there is enough natural
suplies of food for a pair but we fed them occaisionally with earth worms
or pinckies to reduce their shy behaviour.